Stay Out
by Scribe of Turesa
Summary: Sometimes you really wish, in retrospect, that you had put a lock on your door...ONESHOT


**Disclaimer: ****Nope…don't own the guys, Splinter, or April and Casey. : (**

**Stay Out**

"Yo Leo! You in there?" Raph hollered as he pounded on the door to Leo's room that had its regular sign that stated "stay out". The last time they honestly could remember being in Leo's room was when they all moved in.

"Yo? Leo?" Raph called, slightly opening the door, braced for a sharp shout and the door to be pushed closed.

There was no response so Raph pushed the door open further to pause, jaw slack at the sight of small vases and jars scattered across the room on various levels of shelves as well as a huge 50 gallon fish tank with various brightly colored fish darting about in the weeds, broken pottery, shells, and rocks. The huge "hole" that had been in Leo's floor when they had moved in was smoothed out and filled in with water, three koi swam lazily in this.

"Um…ok," was all Raph could manage as he moved further into the room to inspect the jars and vases to see small, immature male Betta within them.

His eyes widened in shock, then he froze at the sight of a large gorgeously colored male Betta in a one gallon fish bowl on Leo's desk. It was pitch black, with blue iridescent dappling.

Raph whistled in admiration at the sight of it, before carefully walking around the koi pond and moving over to inspect the male.

It "flared" at the sight of him, fins extending to a full 180 degrees, the blue becoming more prominent.

"Well hello to you too," Raph chuckled softly.

"His competition was red," Leo remarked dryly.

Raph nearly jumped out of his shell.

"Give me a heart attack why don't you?" he sputtered at the sight of Leo leaning against the doorframe a slight frown on his face.

Leo tipped up the sign on his door and raised an eye ridge.

Raph shrugged.

"Thought ya' were asleep," he replied.

Leo snorted in disbelief.

"Ok maybe I was a little curious as to why you keep this chained off," Raph remarked with a grin.

Leo rolled his eyes before, walking _through_ the koi pond.

Raph raised an eye ridge in confusion.

"Um?" he managed.

"It's glass," Leo muttered, again rolling his eyes but smirking after a few seconds.

"How do you feed them then?" Raph asked curiously after repeating Leo's act and confirming the glass was actually there.

"The glass slides back," Leo replied.

"Ah," Raph replied.

"So what happened exactly?" Raph asked as he gestured to the immature male Betta.

Leo winced.

"Well…I had him," Leo pointed to the male on his desk then to the large tank, "with the girls."

"You mean he knocked them all up?" Raph snorted.

"He bred with one," Leo replied, holding up a single digit.

Raph's eyes widened.

"Shell there's like.." Raph paused to glance around to gather a count.

"Three hundred and twenty," Leo remarked dryly, "including the females."

He jerked a finger toward the large tank.

"Shell…what are you going to do with them?" Raph managed.

"Well,"he sighed, " I'm selling most of them. Be keeping a few choice ones for their colorations though."

"Can I have one?" Raph blurted out.

Leo looked at him with a genuinely surprised look.

"Are you kidding because its not funny," Leo replied, "you'd have to take good care of him or her. Lots of room, plenty of things to do or they'll get bored."

"Fish get bored?" Raph asked.

"Betta do, they're really smart and get bored easy. Like Kagehanako, he's bored. I have to get him back into a larger tank with a filter too." Leo grimaced, "somehow afford that."

Raph frowned.

"I think I can handle it," Raph replied, "are they ok in a vase?"

"Hypothetically," Lao replied, "heard rumors of people keeping them in water bottles for upwards of three to four years. But I wouldn't advise it unless you constantly change the water."

Raph nodded before walking over the first self of young betta and looking them over.

"So what did you mean by his competition was red?" Raph asked as he looked.

"Had two males in there, Kagehanako killed him after breeding, otherwise they were fine. it's a fifty gallon so they could establish their territories," Leo replied.

"Huh, cool." Raph frowned before smiling, "I like this guy."

He pointed to a small black, red, and copper male.

Leo chuckled.

"Yeah he's one of my favorites too," Leo replied.

"So can I have him?" Raph asked.

Leo frowned.

"Wasn't I getting after you for being in my room?" Leo muttered.

"Yeah but I took a card from Mike and distracted you," Raph replied with a chuckle.

Leo shook his head and smiled.

"Yeah you can have him," Leo chuckled, "on one condition."

"What's that?" Raph asked as he gently removed the Betta and vase from its spot.

"Don't tell anyone about this," Leo replied, gesturing to the other fish.

Raph nodded.

"Secret's safe with me bro," Raph replied, before holding up the young male and watching him swim in the light.

"Not necessarily a secret just I don't want people in here all the time," Leo muttered.

"Got it," Raph replied.

**Three weeks later***

April paused before glancing at the blue and gold Betta in a vase on the dinning room table.

"Um where'd that come from?" April asked no one in particular.

Everyone looked at Leo who sighed and face palmed himself before glaring at Raph.

"You started this," he muttered before walking off toward his room.

Apri gave them all a confused look.

"Um?" she managed.

"Ask Leo," Don muttered.

"Want to see mine?" Mike asked.

**A/N: poor Leo….lol and yes I'm a Betta owner and am currently hoping the above does not happen lol. I have managed to integrate three female Betta and a male into a ten gallon tank (risky I know) but so far its working (they have lots of hiding places).**


End file.
